Tuesday 3 February 2009
The Regal
We used to love going to our local cinema- the Regal in Northwich but sadly it suffered from falling attendences and closed a couple of years ago. It stands empty and decaying - full of tramps and rats apparently.
It had a good send off though- on the final night there was a charity showing of "Grease" and the place was packed with people dressed in 50's gear and jiving in the isles. The local paper took a big panoramic photo of the audience and I bought one to frame and hang on the wall to remember that wonderful last day. You can just see us munching our sweets on the 23rd row of the stalls. Bitter sweet with all that popcorn and sticky cola on the floor.
Also before it finally sold off all the interior in a huge online auction ( we bid for a door but didn't get it ) Archie and I were extras in a cheap zombie film "Dead City" made by a local lad. Great fun, and we saw the premier at our nearest cinema- five miles away- in Knutsford.
Heres a short film made by Granada of the 60th anniversary of the Regal back in 1998.
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2 comments:
Nothing quite like the local flick There used to be ont in Rayletigh, don't know if you remember? It showed 'The Charge of the Lightbrigade' thete and also 'A Clockwork Orange'.
These places always had such an intimate feel to them didn't they? It felt almost as though you were sitting in your lounge with an extended family!
Wevreally miss it but thankfully the little cinema in Knutsford is quite adequate for our needs and only a 20 minute drive away. We saw the fabulous "Slumdog Millioaire" there last week.
Yes, i vaguley remmber the cinema in Rayleigh though i dont think i ever went to it. Plenty in Southend and Westcliff in the 60's - all sadly gone like so many. I used to bunk off from art school with some mates and watch daft B movies with all the pensioners in the afternoons sometimes. The old Garons cinema was a great- like a long corridoor with a tiny screen at one end. It used to show newsreels and cartoons befor the double bill of Hammer Horror or some other old tosh. Great days!
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